Harry Dunn's alleged killer never had diplomatic immunity

Watch a report by ITV News Anglia reporter Sarah Cooper

The High Court has heard the alleged killer of Harry Dunn never had diplomatic immunity.

19 year old Mr Dunn was killed when his motorbike crashed into a car being driven on the wrong side of the road by American Anne Sacoolas outside RAF Croughton in Northamptonshire on August 27 last year.

Sacoolas, whose husband Jonathan Sacoolas worked as a technical assistant at the base, left the country a few weeks later after the US said she was entitled to diplomatic immunity.

The 43-year-old was ultimately charged with causing death by dangerous driving last December, but an extradition request was rejected by the US State Department in January.

Mr Dunn's parents, Charlotte Charles and Tim Dunn, claim the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) wrongly decided Sacoolas had diplomatic immunity and unlawfully obstructed Northamptonshire Police's investigation into their son's death by keeping the force "in the dark".

Today it emerged that in 1995, the UK agreed to an American request to include staff at RAF Croughton on the diplomatic list, but asked the US to waive the immunity of administrative and technical staff in relation to "acts performed outside the course of their duties".

The FCDO says that waiver only applied to staff at RAF Croughton and not their family members, meaning Anne Sacoolas did have immunity at the time of the crash.

But, at a remote hearing on Wednesday, Sam Wordsworth QC - representing Harry's parents said Sacoolas had "no duties at all" at the base and therefore "never had any relevant immunity for the US to waive".

Geoffrey Robertson QC - also representing the Dunn family earlier said earlier said the FCDO "took upon itself the authority to resolve the question of immunity and ultimately and unlawfully decided to accept the US embassy's decision that Anne Sacoolas had immunity".

He said that decision "obstructed the police by preventing any effective further progress in its investigation into Harry's death and likely prosecution of Anne Sacoolas".

In written submissions, the FCDO's barrister, Sir James Eadie QC, said: "As a matter of international and domestic law, Mrs Sacoolas automatically had diplomatic immunity as the spouse of a member of the administrative and technical staff of the US mission."

He added the FCDO "plainly did not obstruct the police investigation "On the contrary, the Secretary of State sought to assist the police investigation, including by requesting a waiver of Mrs Sacoolas's immunity."

The hearing ended on Thursday with a reserved judgement to be delivered at a later date